Phit-N-Phat...Making Fitness and Weightloss a Lifestyle

Continuing to Heed My Body's Advice

Chris and I were going to do a 15K this morning. I had grand plans to test-drive a nutrition strategy for my next half in two-weeks. 

We went out last night to celebrate my re-certification in ISSA and basically some other milestones. I've been feeling pretty good this week and think I can see myself making lots of forward progress getting my "groove" back.

It was a lot of fun, we danced some, had a little wine, I ate sensible, and we were home by 10:45. Note: we go to a Boomer and above type bar with dancing. You can have a full night and be home early. Score!

We got up this morning, dressed, ate breakfast, and headed to the race. We even walked to registration. The whole time my knees were a tad achy, nothing major, I was tired, and I just kept thinking am I really ready to do this? I mean, I had worked out this week, had my DOR on Thursday, busted butt in working (like too many hours to put on here or you will think I'm a nutcase), and just deep down felt like this race would make the rest of the day worthless.

I looked at Chris and said I just wasn't in it but if he was into it I could muster it up for the team. He said he didn't care...it's COLD! We laughed, turned around, and decided to hit the Y, workout, and then go get groceries for the week.

It was such a great day and so nice not feel guilty for canning something I had "planned." In the past I would push. Today I just thought who the hell cares if I do this race? Is this race going to change how anyone's day goes? No. The only person it effected was Chris and he was COLD and so was I. Cold running on a tired body is not a good time and I do these events to have a good time. Sometimes it's about beating myself but that's fun! If I can't find the fun what's the point?

We went to the Y. I ran for 30 minutes and worked a LITTLE on speed meaning I just ran faster than an easy run for 15 minutes because I felt like it. Chris wanted to do a long run so he did 1:15 on the treadmill while I finished my workout with some upper body circuits and ab work. I keep workouts in my phone for JUST THESE REASONS! I always have something I've written I can pull out and use.

Then we headed to Whole Foods and Kroger to get food. It was nice and we decided today we would just eat unconventional but healthy stuff. It felt great! I had some veggie sushi that I never do, Honeycrisps are IN so I bought I know 20 of them because I eat about 3 apples a day, and I bought an assortment of prepared vegetable and grain salads and baked tofu. 

Tomorrow I'm walking with my friend early then cleaning and prepping all that glorious food. This is our menu for the week (dinners are what we all eat and lunch is me and Chris - Logan takes a variety of things).

Preworkout - apple
B - oats and egg whites with one egg
S - Shakeology made with water and ice, pumpkin seeds
L - homemade bean chili over spag squash (I like volume)
S -  almond butter rice cake and apple
D -  bison mexican stir fry with herbed gluten free cous cous OR skinny chicken dumplings (made with GF oat flour), with a salad (baby carrots, cukes, broc, spinach) OR Boca burger on Ezekial Bread (could use GF too we have it), baked sweet potato fries, and cucumber slices
S - Shakeology same as snack and another apple

I also have some yogurts, bananas, popcorn and such in case I'm extra hungry. 

We're starting our Beachbody 90-day Challenge on Phit-n-Phat.com and here's my plan for the week first week. I have a bunch of PNP ladies coming in for Phat Camp this weekend so it's going to be an awesome week and I'm excited! I'm putting the videos in as I can for two weeks since I'm travelling and doing big events. Then I'll be on a regular schedule.

Mon: CEX Burn 1 (havent done yet and want to try)/I've got Abs

Tue: Tempo Run 5 miles

Wed: CEX Burn 3/2-3 miles/Extreme Abs

Thu: Off

Fri: First night of camp (cardio night - bodyweight routine)

Sat: Camp (sprints, two more workouts)

Sun: Camp (cardio, 2 more workouts)

Long post but that's the plan. I'll take off Monday for sure to catch on PNP and hit that grocery store!

My Planning and Why

I'm starting this with my plan for the week. Last week I said I needed to get back to my old behaviors so that's what I'm going to kick off with today. Some positive planning, structure, and accountability. You really can't beat any of that when you are living the lifestyle.

EXERCISE

Monday - finished a hard 4 mile tempo run on the treadmill
Tuesday - back/shoulders/abs and 30 min. of cardio (new routine learned at Phat Camp that is wicked)
Wednesday - Long Run of 7-8 miles
Thursday - chest/legs/arms hour circuit
Friday - 3 miles and ab circuit 20 min.
Saturday - EZ 5K in the morning with Logan and Warrior Dash in the afternoon
Sunday -

I'm using some routines from Phat Camp for the cardio and the strength is my own stuff this week. Today I ordered Chalene Extreme and I think I'm going to follow that program a bit to free up planning for myself.

FOOD

Went to the store yesterday after driving back from Dayton PC early in the morning. Here's what I planned for myself starting tomorrow because today I winged it and will be prepping tonight. I had to work, therapy, and lots of other things so tonight it is.

Breakfast - 3/4 cup of oats with cinnamon, truvia, and almond extract and 8 egg whites with ketchup OR 2 pcs of EZ toast with ICBINB and 8 egg whites.

Snack - Shakeology and 1/3 cup of pumpking seeds

Lunch - roughy cooked in coconut oil, mixed fajita style peppers and onions, and 4-6 oz of sweet potato (strength days I'll do 6)

Snack - apple with two carb master yogurts

Dinner - Skinny Chicken and Dumplings, Spag Sauce with Laura's Lean beef over a bag of steamer vegetables, OR chicken fajita mix (no rice for me) on top of big salad

Snack - 12 oz of red wine OR shakeology and an apple OR 100 cal bag of popcorn (wine or snack but not both this week)

On a high day that equals about 2100 calories and a lower day (choosing lower options) it's about 1800. I also have some baby carrots, celery, and bananas to add in case I'm hungry. It's filled with stuff I like and I should be able to maintain fine with this.

I also have plans to have go out to eat three times this week! I know two are Ruby Tuesday so that's easy. The other I will know ahead of time and make plans. My goal for this week is to stay off BLT's, stay on plan, and be aware of my hunger. Assess if I'm hungry or just stressed.

PERSONAL

This weekend I was at Phat Camp Dayton and it was great. I love the workouts because they scale them to fit everyone's level. Women who look just like I did six years ago show up to these camps and I hope when they see me they have hope it's possible. I respect them so much for showing up and giving it their all. When I weighed 250lbs I wouldn't have had the guts to do it, let alone, push myself to try working out in a new way.

The majority of the women at camp were just starting out or trying to figure out where to go with exercise and getting in shape. As we were in the seminar portion of the camp, so many of the women started asking questions that had plagued me back in the days of losing weight.

One woman was worried about loose skin on her tummy. I just couldn't help it but I had to comment that for some of us the skin is NOT going to bounce back. I was honest with them that once that elasticity goes it's gone. Some women do have great genes and no matter what kind of weight gain they have with pregnancy they'll get it back with hard work. But, A LOT of us with past battles with obesity WON'T.

Jen asked me to show my Tummy Tuck scar and she said, "Well, that's not so bad." I promptly said you haven't seen the REAL scars from the lower body lift. LOL. I pulled half my pants down and showed the women what I had to do to fix my past. I even took the time to explain what it has meant to me, personally.

I spent years trying everything to fix my skin issues. I still try! At four years of maintenance and work I knew it was time for surgery. Today, with the loose skin that is STILL left after six years I have learned I need to live with it. Y'all know everyday I work on self-acceptance, but what I was hoping they would see is a woman who can kick butt in workouts who used to sit on her butt letting life kick her.

That's the awesome thing about Jen Hendershott's Phat Camps and my own PNP Meet-ups at events; we all can work together towards a better lifestyle. Some of us are in the beginning. They need the help to get started on the right path and who better to give back than women who have been there.

And there are others there, too. We had a couple of figure girls, a few women who love endurance events, a mom of 8 kids who has no time and little money for clean food, girls with no kids just starting out in adult life and women who are hitting the boomer years. It's amazing when you attend events with me because I can promise you there will be women with all kinds of stories yet a lot of commonality in trying to find the balance while losing weight.

OK...so that was all about camp. I decided on Saturday that it was important for me to leave Sunday morning EARLY and miss the last day. Logan had his first cross-country match and I wanted to be there. Something told me I had to be there but not for the reasons I thought.

We went and the baby wasn't feeling too hot to begin with. He's got a little cold but seemed OK to go. He wanted to! We arrived and it was a MADHOUSE. 100's of kids and parents everywhere. It was like organized confusion.

Because he's a 3rd grader we waited for our turn in the hot sun for about 45 min. to an hour, I think. He stretched and seemed fine until we lined up. We had to wait 15 min. on the line and that's where his nerves kicked in. He said his legs shook. We hugged tight trying to get the adrenaline out.

When they sounded the horn he ran the field, hit the track then just started walking. I could see he was shutting down. It was too much. I ran to the side (coach's can be on the field) and tried to get him to run. When he started melting down I backed off hoping if he had no outlet (me) he would keep going. No. Some sweet kids and another mom ran to him and cheered him on. Nice as it was I could see his face was striken with too much stimulation.

At that point I walked with him and we ended up leaving. He started throwing a mild fit; my worst nightmare because I don't want this friends at school to see him THAT way.

Other things happened but I tried to keep my composure and help him learn from it. We processed the day 2-3 times. I wanted him to completely understand that I understood WHY he was frustrated and didn't like it, that I was proud of him for trying, that it was OK to not want to race, but throwing a fit and not using your words to express your emotions isn't acceptable. THAT was hard for me. I had to find a way for him to understand he was in time out for tantrums and not for his inability to process a big event. I was so worried he would think I was mad and punishing him for not running.

In the end he got it. I know he did. I've thought a lot about it, too. It may sound insane but God uses these times to help us. I remember blogging a long time ago that I had to go through years of being fat, bullied, and miserable to even have the ability to help my clients. Same thing with Logan. We have to believe that these tough moments are meant to be so that one day in the future when it REALLY matters he will succeed, try, not quit, or know how to leave something the right way.

It's so ironic that my phrase "Last place is the girl on the couch," the mantra of PNP, plays so well with my child. Being in last place means you were a part of something. It means you were brave enough to try. I have to give it to Logan. That boy might not like a lot of what we make him do but he shows up and attempts things.

I told him we weren't quitting Cross Country. He enjoys practice. I enjoy coaching the girls. We'll keep going and each meet we can decide if we want to race or if we want to cheer on our friends. Either way WE'RE a part of something. That was the goal and we CAN DO THAT.

I do admit that it's hard with the food and exercise to not just go crazy lately. I'm not always perfect but I'm doing the best I can. It's what I preach to my girls. If I'm not eating perfect you bet I'm tracking calories to keep it honest.

That's why I'm planning and posting, being honest and blogging. It's not always roses but I've learned to have a lifestyle means you gotta fight through the tough times and enjoy the good ones. I know what foods to not have around, I know some days I need to schedule a workout with someone so that it will get done, and I know there are times I have to ask my husband to question my food choices when I'm not willing to do it.

It's how I handle maintenance. When I'm strong I intuitively eat. When I'm worked up like a maniac it's time to go on a plan and turn off thy brain. These days a little silence in my head, an app to track my calories, and a piece of paper with a plan is a good thing.



Another Phabulous PNP Retreat Ramping Up

Racing teaches us to challenge ourselves. It teaches us to push beyond where we thought we could go. It helps us to find out what we are made of. This is what we do. This is what it's all about.

Here we are, the day before another group of 20+ PNP women will come to Nashville for our annual retreat. I've been fortunate enough to be at this for FOUR years now and proud to say I have several members from the original "crew" still with me. It's rare as a trainer or weightloss coach for you to keep clients very long, but something about our site is just special. It's more than just a weightloss message board, but a real community.

Four years ago I started with just one-on-one online training. I soon realized I needed a place for these amazing women to chat. It was easy to see through my emails with clients that women don't struggle with the food and exercise. Most of them did the work. The commonality was they struggled with THINKING about food and exercise.

I suppose what sets PNP apart is that I work more on the fat girl thinking (FGT) and just a bit on food and exercise. Of course I do diets and exercise, but not ones that are just, well, like you can find anywhere. I just think people are going to live the lifestyle better if you make it a lifestyle they can really live.

PNP sort of boils down to that. We work more on your lifestyle and how you think about choices rather than just focusing on eat this, not that, and do this really hard. It's really not about that stuff. It really is about finding what is holding you back. Start changing those little things then the bigger ones get easier to fix.

If I had to nail down my "speciality" it would be helping people see how to change themselves. Truly change what they think they are capable of and you get better results. My process might not always be the fastest and a few people don't lose weight for awhile. But, I have a lot of girls who change things in their lives that are more important than the number on the scale FIRST. PNP girls realize that often those "life things" need work first so you can really work on that scale number with gusto.

Girls, we come together again to do the Country Music Half Marathon. Each year we bring women across the finish lines of camps, races, and weightloss goals they never dreamed possible. I'm excited to have you girls here for our retreat weekend and we are going to do what we do best:

- go beyond where we thought we could go...13 miles or just re-thinking what we can do back at home.

- find out what we are made of...fight through what looks like rain and go out partying where FGT is shelved for a night of dancing without care of who's watching.

This is what we do. This is what we are about. At PNP we learn to appreciate we are BETTER than we ever thought possible. And we celebrate that by coming together like a sorority house. It's new and old friends but it's always friends. Amazing the job I am blessed to have.

The Weightloss Changes That MATTER

You've heard me tell this story many times. My husband, Chris, came into my life and totally changed how I see myself. I was a girl who didn't think being thin was possible, chasing my dreams was not a possibility for me, and being a big ole negative person on the inside.

I hid behind not only my weight but my personality for years and years. It was easy to show the world a funny-nothing-bothers me Corinne while all along internally I said some of the nastiest, cruelest, untrue, and terrible things to myself.

I spewed mental venom at every turn. When I ate I was a pig. When I went home and watched TV I was lazy. Going out with friends meant you'll always be alone and a loser. There was not much time at all spent on appreciating anything about myself.

Chris came in and changed that. Through example, reassurance, patience, rolling of eyes, and (after I asked for it) a lot of verbal correction I started changing. I needed something in my life to wake my future Phat butt up.

I honestly believe that people who lose massive (and sometimes just a little) weight, keep it off, and do it long-term succeed because they learn how to believe in themselves. They fix the things that hold them back versus wasting too much time asking why do I do this. Fix the action and soon you'll figure out why and just maybe it won't even matter anymore.

There's not a special diet, carb cycling, lifting weights, excessive cardio, or even surgery that is magic to this process of losing weight. I mean all that certainly is important to some degree, but NONE of it works if you never believe you DESERVE IT AND CAN DO IT.

We let what matters the least dictate to us our success; and if you do it in weightloss you probably do it in other areas of life too. I was thinking about it this evening. I NEVER could have lost my weight had I not had zero scale success, and in fact, GAINED weight for two years prior to losing it.

During that time I got married and had a child. I had been 250lbs a few years before Chris but got down to 175lbs when we married. Then it went back up and all the way to 250 again after two years and a baby.

I felt pretty miserable about the weight, ate horrible, and such. Don't get me wrong. Those two years weren't me loving life and thinking I was a hot momma. Far from it. What did happen, though, is Chris showed me how to believe in Corinne. He never said a word about my weight but we talked a lot about how hard I was on myself. He just kept telling me I could do anything I wanted. There was nothing stopping me from learning new things, doing new things, etc.

Through example and after hearing it over and over again it got me thinking about what I wanted to change the most. My weight. The one thing that since I was nine years old that made me cry on either the inside or outside every day of my life.

I'm not a believer in lightbulb moments; ask any PNP girl. I can say through those two years of "scale failure" I had a whole new electrical system installed saw I could turn on my own light.

I needed to believe I could get up each day and walk before I could think about running. I had to believe that it was OK for me to do new things, try new things, go at things myself, etc. He helped me remove ME out of the way. Not one time did he teach me how to run, bike, eat, cook, lift a weight or prep. I learned how to do that by myself because I believed I could for once in my life. There was NO REASON I couldn't be the Corinne I wanted to be and there was no deadline to get there.

My husband knows how important he is to me. Between Chris and my son they saved my life. I know they've both added countless years to me being on the earth that fruit, veggies, and weights will never add. Chris is the one who taught me how to see my potential and Logan gave me a reason to start realizing my potential.

I hope the girls at PNP who may not have had the year they think they SHOULD have since our last camp look back and see that your progress this year isn't measured with tape or the scale. Just about every girl that came last year is better today than they were a year ago regardless of that. When we all come together to walk the CMM in less than two weeks, new and old to camp, remember when you step off the plane I and your PNP sisters always see the PHAT girl. Leave the Fat Girl at home. Who knows...you might just be a Queen ready to take her throne.

Happy Birthday to ME!

I love birthdays and every year I love it more. Like fine wine, this girl just gets better with age. Seriously, I have no shame or doubt that I am my best and proclaiming it for all to hear. The only "sad" moment for me is that I didn't get to do my annual 6 mile run on my birthday. Since I started running I've started my birthday with the same six mile trail run. Couldn't do that this year with surgery so my fabulous moderator and friend Kathleen ran five miles saying "Happy Birthday Corinne" at each mile.

Today I want to recap year 34 in terms of my health. Before I do, thank you to my sweet husband and wonderful child that both support me. Without the two of them I wouldn't be the person I am today.

• I competed in two figure shows.
• I ran five half marathons: MTSU, Memphis, Phoenix, Country Music (where my friend and I raised over $1000 for Autism), and Sunburst.
• I ran my first full marathon in AR.
• I hosted my first women's retreat with 30 of my clients.

The retreat was so great and my biggest accomplishment this year. I got to see all the women that I talk to, advise, befriend, and "live with" online day in and day out. We had such a wonderful experience and I hope we make it annual event.

Although I am proud of my personal triumphs, it's the women I work with daily that truly bring me the most pride. Never did I dream that I would be able to change people's lives. I get to do that every day and rarely does a day go by that someone doesn't tell me so.

Do you know how special that is? I think it's one reason why my years seem to get better. I have no regrets because the tough times made me who I am today and make me able to speak to a lot of people. By being able to help women, I look forward to waking up, I challenge myself more so I can be better for them, and I have that payback that my life has so much value.

This next year I have only a few personal challenges. Not as big as last year, but I definitely have exciting things on my plate. The big difference this year is that while my personal challenges might be less I am working on making this a year that my family is as on board with this lifestyle as I am. That includes Mammy, Chris, and Logan. I want to work on being that Phit Family in all aspects. Just like you, it gets easy to eat "my way" and feed them more "crap" they shouldn't have. This year is all about balance.

Hello 35. I'm happy to see you. Now enjoy some pictures from our retreat!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are the girls in their personality types!

Hello C's!

 

 

 

 

Howdie I's!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Looking good D's! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sweet S's!

Phat Camp Dayton Re-Cap

I just returned from Jen Hendershott's Phat Camp which was inspirational and my third one this year. I have taken the opportunity to bring my clients and friends from all over the country to these camps so we can experience workouts, breakthroughs, and personal achievements together. If YOU EVER have the opportunity to attend a camp you should! As we all discussed this weekend, it is an investment in YOU and too often women don't take the time to make the investment of health.

Each time I go, it profoundly changes some aspect of my life and this camp was no different. Every camp I have grown in a new way.

My first camp in 2007 I found the love of strength training and pushing myself further than I ever imagined.

My second camp Jan 2008 I realized I wanted to compete and I did.

My third camp June 2008 I woke up and realized I needed to work on my remaining fat girl thinking. I didn't know how much it plagued me until that weekend.

My fourth camp this weekend I got a true sense of what I want to do with fitness business and, beleive it or not, I had a spiritual awakening. I heard Jesus telling me it was time to get back to church, trust in him to lead me to amazing heights, and be willing to dream large dreams.

You see, I have been depressed lately with Logan's progress in autism. Even though I understand he is making great progress I have caught myself getting wrapped up in what we don't have versus what we do have. By living in that funk I have also denied myself the dreams for my child most parents take for granted.

Today it all ends. I was meant to be at this camp not to get my butt kicked, not to think of my self-image, and not to see how far I have come physically. This camp was all about me realizing that there is no limit in this life except the ones that are self-imposed. Today I start dreaming big, praying for strength and guidance to live a full and rich life with blessings beyond even my dreams for my family, and working out with intensity because, after all, it is Phat Camp and you have to learn you can always turn up the heat a notch or two. :)

To the ladies who went with me - all nine of you - thank you for making this a great weekend! Each of you with your own breakthroughs helped me have my own. I needed you there sharing your fears, questions, and stories to see what "I" needed in my life and I appreciate it more than words can say.

To Jane...you winning the pop squat competition was also a moment I'll never forget. I was so proud of you, cried when you finished, and I wouldn't trade anything in the world for seeing one of my girls take down the crown. Now I have TWO (Michele) winners this year at PC. I wonder how many we will have next year?

Our Phat Camp season has ended this year and I can't wait to see what 2009 has in store for us.